Stories From Many Nations

Although Igor Moiseyev is internationally celebrated as a pioneer of theatricalized folklore, he started his dance career in ballet--at the Bolshoi in Moscow. That classical heritage looms especially large in the current tour repertory of his youthful, 65-year-old Moiseyev Dance Company.

Much of the program at the Wilshire Theatre on Tuesday (opening night of a seven-performance engagement) suggested a suite of national dances from some full-evening 19th century story ballet.

Besides a generous selection of Russian specialties, Moiseyev provided Spanish, Polish, Argentine and Venezuelan divertissements--choreographed with a blend of brilliant corps geometry and virtuoso feats that remained consistently spectacular.

In the familiar Ukrainian “Hopak” that ended the evening, for instance, the way the group choreography accumulated speed and force provided an object lesson in compositional sophistication rather than homespun folk values. And when Oleg Chernasov flew over the line of women in a classic Moiseyev image, Chernasov added a new dimension to an old trick by hovering in the air for a long moment as if deciding whether or not to come down.

Other selections in the 14-part performance (not counting the usual Americana encore) reflected the experiments in classicism that invigorated Russian ballet early in the 20th century. After its kitsch opening, for example, “Day on Board a Ship” developed into a nautical ballet mecanique: a dozen men lined up in formations that made their unison movements suggest a powerful engine.

Bodies as pistons generating a steady, inhuman energy--such a Machine Age fantasy belongs alongside other examples of Russian Futurism and has no real relevance to folklore. Like “Partisans,” Moiseyev’s enduring depiction of World War II freedom fighters, it adapts folk material but it is theater dance, no more folkloric than the dancing peasants in “Giselle.”

Most of Moiseyev’s choreography on this and previous tours can be called character ballets, for they use pantomime techniques to sketch the people whose interactions drive or unify a particular work.

In “Cunning Makanu,” the devious but good-hearted Rudi Khodzhoyan not only unites two young lovers but also inspires the men’s corps to acts of comic revenge before the piece settles into expansive formal dances. The narrative itself may be trivial, but without it the solo opportunities and the various group dances would seem thrown together.

Even a brief, small-scale work such as “Dance of Kazan Tatars” (like “Day on Board a Ship,” new to American audiences) sets up its display of steps in the context of a quasi-narrative, humanizing the dance content but also arguably making its characters far too cute.

Over 2 1/2 hours, Moiseyev’s cuteness can become cloying--it even infects “Partisans”--so it’s a relief when the company stops trying to charm us and simply dances with elegance and reserve, as in “Oberek,” another novelty on the current tour.

Here seven couples begin in stately ballroom deployments, with arm flourishes and swirls of the men’s cape-like coats leading to a fast section featuring a typical Moiseyev array of stunts: air turns, vaulting maneuvers, knee-walking and the like.

The young dancers who now embody Moiseyev’s vision are always exciting, but only “Oberek” and a few other interludes free them from the chore of relentlessly working the room. After 10 triumphant American tours, a little more trust in innate Moiseyev showmanship would be reasonable, and welcome.

Moiseyev Dance Company, Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Today and Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. $37 to $69.50. (213) 365-3500.